Earning reports are typically about sales, profits, and future forecasts.
In Tesla's latest report, you had to throw in a New York Times article.
Thanks to a week-long dust up over whether or not a NYT reporter was completely accurate in his story about a Tesla Model S stalling out on a test drive (a drama complete with blog posts and tweets from Tesla CEO Elon Musk), the focus on the Palo Alto automaker has been on its range, rather than its profitability.
Until now.
Moving past the article, Tesla just released its latest quarterly report. The last three months have been strong ones for the company; it continues to ramp up production of the Model S sedan, which is good news for those who have deposits down, and plan to buy the car.
Tesla says it sold about 2,400 Model S sedans over the last three months. It also says it will likely sell more over the next three months. That's good news for the company, which has to make those who put down deposits happy. Faster car production equals more sales equals eventual profits.
Tesla revenues came in at $306 million, beating analysts predictions, but earnings missed at a net loss of 65 cents.
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But for now, profits remain elusive. The company is still losing money, and after a recent run up in the stock price, investors are starting to sell after the earning report. As I write this, shares of Tesla (TSLA) are dropping slightly after hours. They're probably feeling pretty good about Tesla's goal of profitabilty next quarter.
The best news? Tesla now seems to have zoomed past the NYT controversy, and is back to talking about car sales.
Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman
